


Zoos and Cushy Conversations

by orphan_account



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, genderbent, roleplay stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-24
Updated: 2014-07-24
Packaged: 2018-02-10 04:46:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2011407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nat and Toni go to the zoo and do stuff. (Terrible late-night writing)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Zoos and Cushy Conversations

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my genderbat Natasha rp blog. Written to go with my friend's genderbent Tony. Also written at three AM.

“You can’t be serious.” Toni says, rolling over to face Nat. “You cannot actually be completely serious right now.” She repeats herself, staring at her partner.

“But I am. I have the day off.” He answers calmly, reaching out to trace his fingers along her chest. “We haven’t done anything normal in quite a while.” He adds softly, looking at her behind the hair that’s covering most of his eyes.

“Nat, you want to go to the zoo. We are grown ass adults. The zoo, Nat. Why the fucking zoo?” Toni says, even as she shivers a little at his touch. “Also, don’t look at me like that. It’s not going to work.” His coy look is already working, she’ll relent.

“I hear it’s a very nice zoo. It would be a nice, normal date.” He responds, biting his lower lip. He knows she’ll give in if he keeps trying. The zoos before were sad, animals locked in cages. They usually made him sad. But now, most zoos are so much better. Habitats for the animals, and proper care. He enjoys them now. He moves his hand upward to trace her jaw. “Please?” He asks, tilting his head at her.

“Fine. We’ll go to the zoo.” Toni relents, and Nat grins like the little shit that he is. He leans in and kisses her, long and slow. Whatever else Toni has to say is lost in that kiss, and when they pull away, Nat rolls off the bed. They’re still in their hotel in Cleveland, and the zoo he’s talking about is called the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. 

“Thank you.” He says with a smile, leaning over the bed to give Toni another kiss, quick and light. Toni rolls her eyes and gets out of bed.

“You know, I’d be content with staying in bed all day and doing extra-curricular activities.” She holds up her hands and puts air quotes around the last two words, even though Nat’s back is turned.

“We can do that after. There is always time for that. But zoos are nice.” He says, slipping cargo shorts on. He snags a button down t-shirt and turns to Toni. 

“If you wear something sleeveless, you’re wearing sunscreen.” He says, donning the shirt. He leaves it unbuttoned for the moment as he turns to dig in his suitcase. Toni scoffs at his words and throws on a sun dress with spaghetti straps.

“Don’t scoff. I’ve seen you burn.” He says, turning back to her with the sunblock in hand. 

“I’d rather not experience you with sun poisoning, thank you very much. I’ll even put it on you.” He gently grabs her arm after she’s clothed and pulls her close. With gentle fingers, and being careful of a dress that probably cost more than some cars, he works the sunblock into her skin. He lets his fingers linger a bit longer than necessary, before he pulls her in closer and wraps his arms around her. He pulls away after a few moments and grabs her to pull her face down to his level.

“You’re mothering.” Toni says with a grin. Nat shrugs. 

“I don’t care. I’m not dealing with you and sunburns ever again. You’re worse than a child.” He says, working the sunscreen onto her face. He finally caps the bottle of sunscreen and tosses it into his open suitcase. 

“It’s Cleveland. It’s Ohio. It’s also sunny, bright and in the nineties.” He says, turning to try and find the pair of sneakers he knows he packed.

“Also, don’t wear heels. It’s a big zoo.” He says, knowing without looking Toni was grabbing for a pair of heels. She sighs and moves her hands to a pair of flats. He finds his sneakers and a pair of socks and puts them on. 

“Why are we going to the zoo again?” Toni says, leaning against the wall as she watches Nat with his open shirt.

“Because it’s a nice, normal and domestic date. Also I like zoos. And you agreed to go. And then we’ll go somewhere to eat. Following that, we’ll come back here and I will make the entire day worth it for you.” Nat says, a sly grin on his face. Toni perks up a little at his ending words. 

“Fine.” She says, attempting to be indifferent. Nat sees right through her. He stands up from the bed and levers himself up so that he can kiss her, leaning into it and pressing her against the wall.

“I wonder if I should start wearing lifts.” He muses after they pull away. Toni snickers at his words. He shrugs and slips his hand into hers, intertwining their fingers. He pulls her along, and they exit the hotel room together.

“Do you even know where this zoo is?” Toni asks, pulling her phone out to look up the zoo in question.

“Yes. It’s not too far. Far enough we’ll need the car, though.” Nat says, side-eying her as she looks at her phone. 

“Okay, I’ll admit. It sounds like a nice zoo. Not as nice as the one in LA, or the Bronx one.” She admits as they climb into the rental car. Nat just fucking grins.

“You’ve been to both?” He asks, giving her the most innocent look like he’s not just caught he admitting she’s been to zoos before. She stares at him before answering.

“Yes. Now start the damn car and let’s go.” She turns away, even though she’s kind of smiling herself. Nat chuckles and obliges. Their route through the city is tedious, because city traffic is always terrible, but they soon hit the side streets. 

“There’s this restaurant-bar type place I’ve heard a lot about in the area, I was thinking we could go there. It’s called The Winking Lizard. I hear they have excellent burgers.” Nat says conversationally. “Nothing fancy, we’ve been eating fancy for a while.” He adds, drumming his fingers against the stick shift.

“The Winking Lizard? What the hell kind of name is that?” Toni says, turning to Nat to stare at him. “You’re fucking with me. There is no way there is a restaurant named that.” She adds, her tone accusing. 

“I’m not. This guy at the job recommended it to me. Said it’s a chain out here. Every restaurant has an iguana and habitat in it too. I was asking for less high-brow restaurants. Something just regular. It at least sounds interesting enough to check out, don’t you think?” He says, grinning. He expected her reaction. “It’s also a nice bar, I hear.” He adds, briefly reaching out to pat her hand before he has to shift gears again.

“Fine. Only because it sounds hilarious and I need to see it for myself. There’s really a goddamn lizard in each one?” She has her phone out again, she’s going to look the place up herself. She really can’t believe that it exists.

“So I hear. Maybe the guy was fucking with me, but the restaurant exists. I looked it up.” He says, turning onto the zoo’s driveway.

“It actually fucking exists. Ohio is weird. Cleveland is weird.” Toni mutters to herself, putting her phone away. Nat pulls into the parking lot and looks for a space. He finally finds one, three lots out from the entrance.

“Look. We’re here.” He says, switching off the ignition and getting out of the car. He leans against the car and takes in the scenery while he waits for Toni. Once she’s by his side he slips his hand in hers and twines their fingers together again.

“I was looking up this zoo, and apparently it’s part of this massive national park system. It spreads all over northern Ohio. Miles of bike trails and all of that.” He says conversationally as they walk along the path. Toni hums in response, looking around herself. They’re quiet until they get to the zoo’s gates.

“Well, I’ll admit. It looks pretty impressive.” Toni says, her eyes trained on the large building they pass as they walk. She turns to look at the gates and nods. Nat grins and pulls her along towards the ticket counter. He buys them both full tickets to the entire zoo and snags a map with them. As they walk away, he opens the map and holds it out so they can both look at it.

“Any preference on our starting path? The path diverges right at the beginning, but it eventually circles around.” Nat says, pointing at the diverging point.

“Not really, let’s just pick a direction and walk.” Toni says, shrugging. Nat nods in agreement. They pass the entrance, turning in their tickets. Nat pulls Toni aside at the first stand he sees and buys them both cold bottles of water, one he passes to Toni.

“It’s hot, you better drink that.” He says to her even as she wrinkles her nose at him and the water. He fixes her with a look until she sighs and agrees. 

“You are so goddamn demanding and mothering.” She mutters. Nat chuckles and flicks her arm before taking her hand again. She mutters something at him and slides her sunglasses down to her face. They start heading for the Africa exhibit when the loudspeakers announce the crossing of the elephants. Nat stops, and Toni turns to him.

“Watch this.” Nat says to Toni, though he stands back behind the crowd that had already gathered at the massive gates.

“What is it?” Toni asks, turning to him.

“They cross the elephants between exhibits through this gate. You should get closer. I’ve heard it’s pretty fantastic.” He says, pulling his hand from hers.

“You don’t want to get closer?” Toni asks, puzzled at his reluctance.

“Nah. I don’t want to spook them more than I’m already going to. Go, get closer.” He pushes her a little towards the gates. She looks back at him once more and turns to walk towards the gate.

“You’re explaining that after this.” She tells him as she moves forward. And then they’re crossing the elephants, and okay, Toni has to admit, it’s pretty damn cool. Then the gates open again, and Nat joins her at his side.

“That was cool, I’ll admit it. But what did you mean by spooking them?” Toni asks, this time being the one to put her hand in Nat’s.

“Animals that are typically prey can sense what I am. I tend to spook them. So I try not to get too close, though they know I’m here anyway. But if I stand back a bit, they can at least ignore me a little.” He says with a shrug, walking along with her through the gates. He unintentionally walks a little too close to the meerkat exhibit that’s directly inside and the animals react to his presence a little too loudly. He quickly steps back.

“See what I mean?” He says once they’re back far enough for the meerkats to settle down. Toni just stares at him.

“That’s fucking weird. What does that make you, some ultimate predator or something?” She asks as she stares at the meerkats.

“Something like that.” He says with a shrug. Toni looks at him oddly but decides she’s not getting anything more out of him on the subject so she pulls him down the path. They wander through the Africa exhibit together, Nat being careful to stay a certain distance away. They walk back out past the meerkats without issue. They walk along the paved path, holding hands, and occasionally garnering looks from people who recognize them. They run into more than one wide-eyed child, and Nat grins at each kid, holding his finger to his lips. He’s getting more used to being a celebrity, at least with the children. They don’t ask uncomfortable questions in malice.

“Looks like we can’t quite escape who we are, even in Cleveland.” He says ruefully to Toni as they approach the wolf exhibit. 

“Nope. Though the kids are cute.” She answers, turning to him with a grin on her face. She finds it amusing his reactions to the kids, and their reaction to him.

“So the whole predator thing has its advantages.” Nat comments as they enter the wolf lodge.

“Oh?” Toni asks, looking at him curiously.

“Mhm. Watch.” Nat says softly, pushing open the door to the wolf exhibit. He walks up to the glass and stands there for a moment before all six of the red wolves are up close to the glass, staring at him. Toni looks at Nat, then back at the wolves, and then at the other people in the room who are now staring at Nat. 

“It works with most of the predators, but some get grouchy and will react differently. It depends on the personality of the animal.” He says, putting his hand to the glass. The wolves just continue to stare at him.

“They don’t know what to make of me. I’m not inherently a threat to them, but I’m not one of them either. And I’m clearly not an animal. They’re confused.” He explains, stepping away from the glass. 

“That is so fucking weird.” Toni mutters, grabbing his hand again. The wolves have backed away, but still watch Nat closely. And the people around them haven’t stopped staring. Toni finally pulls them towards the exit.

“You do realize you had seven strangers staring at you while you did your animal mojo or whatever, right?” Toni asks as they leave the lodge. Nat shrugs at her words.

“It really doesn’t matter.” He says indifferently as they walk up the hill. They see several more exhibits on the way, no predators, so Nat stays back. Sometimes Toni gets close to the exhibit, other times she stands back with Nat. They finally reach the peak of the hill, where plenty of the predators are situated. Nat can’t help himself, he has to go up to the glass to get closer each time. When he does it to the tiger, and the tiger presses his nose against the glass, and Toni can’t help herself, she gets up close too.

“You’re fun to go to the zoo with.” She says, pressing her hand to the glass. She’s never been so close to a tiger, and she gets excited. “This is really fucking cool.” She mutters as the tiger stares at Nat. It’s almost like she could pet it, she’s so close. Nat just grins at her. They stand there for a bit, garnering several on-lookers. Nat doesn’t care, Toni doesn’t even notice. He splays his hand against the glass and the tiger grumbles deep in his throat, not in a threatening manner, but in a more inquisitive tone. He chuckles at the large cat and steps away, and Toni could swear the damn tiger looks disappointed. It turns away and heads deeper into its habitat. 

“You are fucking ridiculous, but that was so goddamn cool.” She says to him as they walk away. They head to the next exhibit, the black panther. This time, though, Toni pulls out her cell phone. Nat gets up close to the glass and waits a few moments before the panther approaches him. Toni stands back and holds up her phone, hitting record on it. The panther reacts different, and immediately starts purring and rubbing up against the glass.

“Holy shit.” Toni mutters and Nat reaches out to the panther and splays his hand against the glass, and the panther stops, still purring loudly, and licks the glass where Nat’s hand is. He stands there for a good ten minutes, clearly absorbed into the panther’s reactions. Toni finally stops recording and moves up to stand next to him. Nat finally pulls his attention away from the panther and turns to her.

“It never gets old, I’ll admit it.” He says to her, a big grin on his face.

“You’re a fucking nerd.” She says, playfully, as she reaches out to hold his hands. They move on down the line, visiting the bears and lions and even a cheetah. The male lion roars at Nat, which Toni manages to record, and the cheetah purrs as well. After that, they head towards the bird exhibit. Each bird of prey reacts to Nat, usually hopping close and screeching at him. By that point, Toni’s noticed they’ve gained several followers, some of which with cameras. 

“We’ve got some stalkers.” Toni says to Nat as they head towards the reptile house. Nat shrugs.

“It happens.” He says, though he does look back and note that most of their followers happen to be children. He chuckles to himself. They wander through the reptile house, and Nat gets several of the larger snakes to react to him. From the reptile house they move on to the primate exhibit, and Nat stands back a bit, because he actually doesn’t enjoy how the primates react to him. They’re not in there long, and after that, they head down towards the Australian exhibit. They make short order of that, though the free-range wallabies flee as soon as Nat enter the exhibit. They go from there back to the zoo’s entrance, and on to the building Toni had noted of earlier.

“Rain forest exhibit and then dinner?” Nat asks as they walk along the path. Toni checks her phone and is a bit shocked to realize they’ve been at the zoo several hours.

“Sure.” She says, only now realizing she’s hungry. She holds up her water bottle and also realizes she’s nearly finished. Nat’s hands are empty, and she turns to him.

“Where’s your water bottle?” She asks, finishing off the one in her hands.

“You just finished it. I gave it to you after you finished yours.” He says with clear amusement and Toni scoffs at him. He grins at her. They’ve finally lost the group of on-lookers and they wind down, taking their time through the rain forest building. Nat is pleased to note that Toni is not sunburned as they leave the zoo all-together and head for the car.

“So?” Nat asks, giving Toni the most innocent look. She sighs.

“Okay. That was nice. And cool. I actually enjoyed myself.” She admits reluctantly, and Nat just beams at her. “But you should have told me about that predator stuff, because that was pretty amazing.” She adds, pointing a finger at him.

“You wouldn’t have believed me if I had.” He says, grinning, as they get in the car. Toni thinks for a moment and decides she might have believed him, but seeing it was way better. 

“The Winking Lizard?” Nat asks and Toni nods, leaning back into her seat. The drive is quiet, and quite relaxing, even as Toni mulls over how the different animals reacted to Nat. She decides she’s going to figure out why that all happens, because it’s going to bug her if she doesn’t get to the bottom of it. They arrive at the restaurant in short order and Nat parks the car. He walks around the side and opens the door for Toni. They walk together into the restaurant. Toni looks around as they enter, mostly at the massively well-stocked bar that is front and center. Nat grins at her and tells the waiter they’d like to sit in the bar area. The waiter leads them to a table with two chairs that Nat swears are as tall as he is.

“You’re too short for these chairs.” Toni notes with obvious amusement and Nat scowls.

“I am not.” And he proceeds to pull himself into the chair just fine. Even though his feet dangle a little bit above the ground. Toni looks past him and finally notices the larger glass enclosure with, yep, that’s an iguana. 

“They really do have a fucking live lizard.” She mutters to herself and Nat chuckles, he had already noticed the enclosure. Toni scowls to herself but it quickly fades as she opens the menu. Nat does as well and they’re both quiet as they contemplate what to order. The waiter arrives and Nat orders a burger, as does Toni. He grins at her. And then she orders a glass of scotch and Nat sighs. Of course. He orders a long island iced tea, because he might as well. 

“You look tired.” He comments to Toni and she glares at him.

“I am not tired. It’s just fucking hot out and we spent the entire day outside.” She grouses and Nat chuckles. 

“I’ve got video of you doing your animal mojo bullshit.” She says, holding up her phone. “Does anyone else know you can do that?” She asks, setting her phone on the table.

“Clint does. But only because we were ass deep in jungle and a jaguar came up and starting rubbing against me and purring. Clint almost pissed himself. It was quite amusing.” Nat says, grinning.

“I propose a class trip to the Bronx Zoo, so the rest of the team can see it.” Toni chimes in, and Nat chuckles.

“If that’s what you want.” He says, still grinning at her. Then their drinks come and Nat starts in on his drink.

“The scotch isn’t bad.” Toni hums to herself, looking at her glass appraisingly. Nat shrugs.

“The long island iced tea is good.” He says. They wait a bit longer and their burgers are brought to their table. Nat just kind of stares at the double bacon cheeseburger in front of him that looks like it’s the size of his head. Toni just grins.

“These look amazing.” Toni says, picking up her own burger. It drips juices onto her plate. Nat does the same, and god, it smells fantastic. They both devour their burgers in short order and Toni leans back afterward.

“That was a really good burger.” She says, wiping her hands off on a napkin. Nat nods. They polish off their second drinks and Nat pays the bill as they leave. He looks sidelong at Toni and can easily tell she’s tired and probably about to fall asleep. He drives them back to the hotel, where upon entering their room, Toni just falls face-down on their bed. Nat chuckles.

“You are tired.” He says, slipping off his shoes.

“M’not tired.” Toni protests into the pillow. Nat just hums and sits on the bed next to her.

“Right.” He says as he starts kneading her back. She moans and turns her head to the side.

“Don’t ever stop.” She moans as he moves up to up back slowly. He chuckles lightly. He kneads a little harder, working on the kinks in her back. She groans and buries her face in the pillows. Within twenty minutes of him giving her a massage, she’s out cold. He can’t help but chuckle as he pulls away and strips down. He flicks out the light and climbs into bed with her. He decides that today was a good day, and they should definitely do something like that again.


End file.
